James Davison Hunter, LaBrosse-Levinson Distinguished Professor of Religion, Culture and Social Theory at the University of Virginia, and Robert M. Randolph, Chaplain to the Institute at MIT

Why have efforts to change the world by Christians so often failed or gone tragically awry? Because change implies power, Christians eventually embrace political strategies. In his latest book, To Change the World (April 2010, Oxford University Press, Amazon top 10 in Church & State, Sociology, Religion), Hunter offers a critique of the Christian Right and Left, arguing that all too often they worsen the very problems they try to solve. Dr. Randolph will critique a different paradigm of engagement that Hunter says will be more fruitful than any more overtly ambitious attempts can ever be. "The encounter of social science and theology has often been vapid; Hunter shows how vibrant it can be." ~ Robert Bellah